Monthly Archive for November, 2012

Courtroom scene when David Coombs played a Quantico video. Sketch by Clark Stoeckley.

Accused Army whistleblower Bradley Manning testified on November 29 and 30 at a motions hearing for court martial proceedings in Quantico, Virginia. It was the first time he spoke in public since his arrest and imprisonment 917 days ago in May 2010.

Manning testified about the abusive treatment he was subjected to in captivity, in support of a motion to dismiss the charges against him or at least mitigate any punishment should he be convicted.

Xavieramma is arrested after being chased into the sea, September 10. Photo via countercurrents.org

The popular movement to prevent the start-up of India’s Koodankulam nuclear power station has so far succeeded, but at the cost of demonstrators’ lives and mass arrests. Three women from the neighboring fishing village of Idinthakarai remain in jail, denied bail and charged with multiple offenses including sedition. The region for miles around the reactor remains under state siege. Police at checkpoints and in sand-bagged bunkers are keeping thousands of indicted villagers and leaders of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) from leaving the area at India’s southern tip, and foreign media and supporters from entering. Tensions remain high.

[Nuclear Resister editors’ note: This is the latest of many ongoing acts of resistance to the construction of a naval base on Jeju Island, Korea.]

On November 28, in response to the news that the Jeju Naval Base project budget for 2013 – 200,900,000,000 Won – was passed completely without any cuts by the National Assembly and the majority holding Saenuri Party, Jeju citizens, villagers and activists rose up in anger with direct action. Three people were arrested.

Two vehicles were parked in front of the gates to the naval base site and people chained themselves underneath. At one gate, Anglican priests held a prayer service and at the other another person climbed on the roof of a van, wrapping himself in barbed wire. People surrounded the vehicle with their bodies, firewood, junk and whatever else they could find as usual. Soon hundreds of police arrived. They surrounded the Anglican prayer service so that they couldn’t leave and join the other gate’s struggle. Then they moved to the main gate of the construction site.

Brian Terrell (in middle) shortly before being arrested at Whiteman Air Force Base on April 15, 2012 with Mark Kenney and Ron Faust

Friends,

A last message as I prepare to ‘surrender’ to federal authorities in Yanton, SD, for six months on Friday:

Thank you for the outpouring of support, prayers and solidarity in the weeks since my sentencing. My own responses to these many kindnesses
have been haphazard and diffuse – if I have not replied to each one individually, it is not for lack of gratitude.

Sabotage: Destruction of property or obstruction of normal operations, as by civilians or enemy agents in time of war (Free Dictionary). Destructive or obstructive action carried on by a civilian or enemy agent to hinder a nation’s war effort (Merriam – Webster).

It appears that the U.S. Attorney’s office is hard at work trying to figure out the most expeditious way to get Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli of the Transform Now Plowshares to cop a plea and get them behind bars with a minimum of public attention. Hmmm… wonder why???

Days after EDF announced plans to build a fourth nuclear reactor at the Sizewell nuclear park on England’s east coast, several people blocked the entry gate on Monday morning, November 26. The announcement kicked off an 11-week consultation period, which protesters said was not long enough for full evaluation of the proposal, amounting to “a sham process which is nothing more than a cynical box-ticking exercise.”

It is with great honor that I get a chance to speak with you even though it’s a written message that someone has to read.

I’m saddened that we have to call this a Day of Mourning, but we must take every opportunity to remind this nation when it comes to keeping their word about treaties, about human rights, about the environment, about excess pollution – that it has failed miserably on all of those concerns. Also want to remind the major religions that speak about peace and love and brotherhood and are celebrating this thing called Thanksgiving, that we the native people of this land realistically overall have nothing to truly be thankful about regarding the arrival of the pilgrims.

At 6 a.m. on November 23, 10 protestors blockaded access to EDF Energy’s nuclear sites at Hinkley Point in England, preventing the morning shift from starting work. Four people in arm locks formed a barrier across the main access road at Wick Moor Drove in a bid to prevent further ground clearance work at the planned Hinkley C site and to protest EDF’s plan to extend the life of aging reactors at the Hinkley B station.

Columbus, Georgia – The largest annual anti-militarization gathering in North America took place in Columbus, Georgia, from November 16-18, 2012.

Nashua Chantal of Americus, Georgia, who stood in silence with the message ‘Study war no more’ painted across his face during the symbolic funeral march, crossed the line onto the military base. The base is home to the US Army School of the Americas, renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHINSEC) in 2001, a training facility that has turned out some of Latin America’s most notorious killers and continues to be implicated in human rights abuses today. Nashua Chantal was arrested after he crossed over the barb-wired, and is currently in the custody of the military police. He will be arraigned in federal court and is facing up to six months in federal prison for his courageous act of civil disobedience.

With the classic smiling sun “Nuclear Power? No Thanks” logo in yellow, red and black, licensed from www.smilingsun.org.

New! The colors really stand out beautifully on the black twill bags. Perfect for a day at the beach or a trip to the store (or as a gift for your favorite anti-nuclear activist!)

These are fair trade bags made by the DouglaPrieta Works women’s sewing cooperative, part of a grassroots self-help project in Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico, just across the border from Douglas, Arizona (www.douglaprietaworks.org).